Sadly though, even with this roster of products and a resulting synth-pop fad gripping the UK, for various reasons, EDP ceased trading in 1982. A Wasp with a real keyboard and wooden end-cheeks. And on the right, the original Press-Release for the Wasp Deluxe. One of Chris Hugget’s early projects and one that lead to the OSCar. The Wasp was eventually complimented by the natty…er…Gnat – a single oscillator Wasp derivative – a Wasp deluxe (yes, a Wasp with a real keyboard at last), a Gnat Deluxe, a Gnat Special, a sequencer called a Spider and a bizarre 4-note polyphonic keyboard called the Caterpillar.Īn original press release for the EDP Wasp. With its powerful filter and two oscillator design, not only did it sound great, it was portable, affordable and you could link several of them together via a 7-pin din socket to create a sound big enough to blow holes in walls.
Based near Oxford the team effectively created the first real mass-market synthesizer. Some teenagers of a weak disposition felt sick and left, but others parted with their money and returned home to start an enduring love affair with the EDP Wasp.ĮDP or Electronic Dream Plant consisted of Chris Hugget, Adrian Wagner (a descendant of German composer Richard Wagner) and Steven Evans. There they were met with something quite different from the norm in the shape of a small yellow and black box with no real keys but instead a small membrane keyboard, again, in yellow and black. So, naturally, when a new British company announced a new synth for the amazing price of £199, a legion of British adolescents put down their International Musician porn mags and headed off to the Rod Argent’s Keyboard Store in pursuit of the real-deal. The Minimoog cost in excess of £1000 and the cheapest synth bearing the Moog name, the Prodigy (or the bootleg Moog as it later became known), wasn’t to appear for another year. Back in the midsts of time, 1978 to be precise, even a meagre monosynth was beyond the reach of most UK based teenagers.
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